Joe, Yus, Sidibeh and others,

Thank you very much for sharing your views on what this new partnership with the US could mean for us. In my opinion, the partnership is not all about what we can sell or recieve as aid from the US. In my opinion, even though the US is much bigger and much more prosperous than us both countries stand to benefit from this new relationship. What concerns me most is how we are to use this relationship for the betterment of all Gambinas. Fact of the matter is that the most obvious of our resources are our peace and stability, geographical location, human resources and the sea/river. However all this will mean zilch if our leadership does not create the enabling climate for these potentials to be fully used.

Bamba Laye wrote:

"Ofcourse all these theories are built on the premise that there is strong ambitious leadership that is able to encourage and guide all the players in the right direction".

This, my friends, is what we must ensure. It is said that if you do not know where you are going any road you take will take you there. We must begin by scrutinising what vision 2020, a blueprint that this government relies on heavily, to see how and when changes to it should be made to reflect our everyday realities.

I remember very well, in 1985, when the then premier of Singapore announced that he wanted to turn Singapore into an "Intelligent Island" by 1995. At the time Magarette Thatcher ridiculed him and some of the tabloids made a lot of hula baloo over the issue. When I went to Singapore in 1996, I was overwhelmed with what I saw. Singapore is much smaller that Kombo, had a population of 3 million at the time and yet literally had much more space than The Gambia. Throughout my six weeks stay there I did not feel any form of congestion. The roads were wide, the place full of parks and plants and public transport was very efficient. I could not understand how this tiny nation of about 3 million people were so managed that everybody was just happy doing what they knew best. I remember also asking the Singapore elder minister, the achitect of the "Intelligent Island" how "Intelligent" Singapore had become a year after his 1995 target. He explained that more needed to be done and that he was confident that by the 2005 his dream of creating an "intelligent Island" would be realised. He further explained that when the project of creating the most advanced country, technologically speaking was concieved they had believed that Singapore needed to train 1,000 IT engineers per year for ten years. This target, though reached, through the offering of incentives for people to excel in IT engineering, had to be revised upwards to 1,400 IT engineers per annum for another ten years in 1995. This is what good leadership means. Your vision for your country must be shared with the people you lead for them to understand, accept and implement. They must not be marginalised!

Secondly, the strategic location of our country, its fine and predicatable climate as well as its stability, peace and warm hearted people makes it all the more attractive as a gateway into west Africa. Unlike some countries in our subregion, the Banjul seaport is fully protected. In some ports, e.g. Nouachott (Mauritanea) were when the sea is very rough, ships must leave the port otherwise they risk being damaged or damage the port, this does not happen in The Gambia. All these are favourable conditions that can make Gambia an ideal port in West Africa. If my memory serves me right, I believe little singapore has the biggest or busiest port in the whole world. It also ranks as one of biggest countries when it comes to refining crude oil and yet they don't have oil. In my opinion, these are some of the issues that we need to look at seriously.

Thirdly, I would like to suggest that the ongoing consultations between the government and private sector/chamber of commerce be intensified. The government must also go that extra mile to patch up its relationship with the private media. The role of the media in our development efforts cannot be under estimated. The private media must also recognise the fact that the government has been elected to lead us. Let them be critical but fair in their reporting of events.

Finally, Gambians must change their attitudes. The dependency syndrome through our extended family system is being abused and is stiffling development. We will never develop if only one person is producing wealth while ten others are just consuming. I do not have authentic figures, but I would not be surprised if I am told that over 80% of the following are dominated by non-Gambians: taylors, welders, mechanics, berbers, SMEs, fishermen, carpenters, masoners, panel beaters etc, etc. How on earth can we develop when our people feel that certain jobs are not for them? For God's sake even the taxi business is now dominated by non-Gambians.